20-4 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. JIAMMALIA. 



Tliore arc not many " tliorongh-lnx'tl " Iiorses in this country, the wants of 

 tlic conininnitv rccjiiiring a mixed breed, as better suited to general purposes. 

 A " tliorougli-bred " is a descendant of the Arabian. The Arabians are tlie 

 most skilful horsc-culturists in the world. Tlic Barb of North Africa, and 

 the Turk from the Uospliorus, have also their representatives liere. They 

 are elegant and superb animals, celebrated equally for beauty and speed. 

 Previous to the war the soutiiern people had gi\cn more attention to the im- 

 provement of breeds than tliose of the north, and, consequently, during the 

 late civil war had the advantage of a superior cavalry. The horses most valued 

 by us are the jMorgan, Messenger, and Black Ilawk breeds. All tiic good 

 horses in the country owe their fine qualities to their inspiriting blood. 



The English race-horses and hunters have long been renowned for tieauty, 

 speed, and strength, and probably, on the whole, are superior to the most 

 cultivated breeds of any other country, equalling the Arabian in beauty, and 

 surpassing them in pnwer and stattu'c. AVc have often heard stablemen and 

 horse-fanciers discussing the relative value of color as indicative of the <lis- 

 position and other attril)utcs of the animal ; but long and close observation 

 has sliown that little reliance can be placed thereon, as tliere are horses 

 equally good of all colors. The experience of hundreds of years verifies the 

 proverb, that "every good horse is of a (johd color. " 



Numerous species and breeds of horses are distributed throughout the differ- 

 ent countries of t!;e world, differing in character and qualities nut materially 

 from corresponding races well known to us, but varying in size from the 

 Toorkee horse, which is often sixteen hands high, to the yhetlanil pony, 

 wliirli is frequently not larger than a Newfoundland dog. Tlio Toorkee 

 horse is capable of immense fiitiguc and privation, and has been known to 

 travel nine hundred miles in eleven consecutive days. lUit the most remarka- 

 ble species we have met with is the Shrubat-ur-licech, or "drinkers of the 

 wind," of .Morocco ; and they might well be supposed to live on air, as they 

 are apparently nothing but a bag of bones. In shape they resemble the grey- 

 hound, rather low, and, althongli destitute of flesh, ''their spirit is liigh, and 

 endurance of fitigue prodigious," frequently travelling fifty or sixty miles 

 without a single halt. An extraordinary fact in regard to this animal is, that 

 it is deprived of its natural aliment almost from birth. Until it is seven 

 years old it is nourished by the milk of the she camel, and when subjected to 

 toil, it is fed only once in three days, on camel's milk, with, sometimes, the 

 addition of a handful of dates ; and yet with such scanty food, unnatural too, 

 as it must seem to us, the Shrul>at-ur-Kecch retains a surprising vigor, and 

 an astonishing capacity for spcfid. 



Genus Asixus. Excepting some slight structural characteristics, the 

 chief distinctions between the horse and the asinine group evidently lie in 



